torakris

soba and Mrs. Dash no chicken breasts yet?

Pim, I feel for you and understand completely. I really want to like beets, but I just can't! I will eat almost everything set in front of me, but I just can't handle beets..........

word for 8/21: アスパラガス asuparagasu (ah-sue-pah-rah-gah-sue) asparagus The Japanese, who have a fear of long words , often shorten this to asupara (pronounced more like as-para). Though not native to Japan it is very popular here and can be found in many forms, the basic green, white, even purple and mini. It is often blanched and used in salads or stirfires and deep fried. It is rarely used as a dish of its own (they don't just eat a side of asparagus) rather it is combined with other ingredients and this is why Japanese stores sell it in bunches of 3 to 5.

Yoshinoya gyudon is really one of those Japanese comfort foods, it isn't really good but every now and then you NEED it. Now REAL gyudon is a different story....................

Tuesday night: sauteed pork with marsala spicy couscous (Jamie Oliver book #1) stuffed grilled tomatoes with goat cheese, black olives and oregano (Cook's Illustrated Sept/Oct 2000) cucumber salad with red onions, red wine vinegar, EVOO and mint dessert: wafer cookies with hazelnut cream

Are you a nice person? http://www.yoshinoya-dc.com/eng/yoshinoya/top.html Sometimes nothing hits the spot better then a steaming bowl of gyudon. Yoshinoya (synonamous with gyudon in Japan) even serves breakfast, click on menu to see the offerings. Please not though that while breakfast service starts at 5:00am, you can't order beer or sake until 6:00am

I buy frozen pre-cooked breaded chicken patties top them with some shredded mozarella and a quick homemade tomato sauce (I would never use that jarred stuff! ) and voila instant chicken parmigiana. It is a nostalgiac flavor for me, my mom made something similar. I also keep frozen meatballs on hand to use in a variety of dishes in an instant (kids love meatballs with any flavor! ) The Japanese Cook-Do brand line of prepared sauces aren't half bad, I often jazz them up with some fresh ginger, garlic, fermented black beans, etc when I need a meal quick and don't feel like cooking.

Do not, I repeat DO NOT set up your garden to that the yuzu (which has thorns!) is in front of the bay leaf tree, I got some nasty scratches on my upper arm yesterday. Of course they match the scabs on my left hand............. ............it has been a really bad knife week

looking foward to more! I love hearing about your meals Soba

word for 8/20: I really need to organize myself better , let'S go back to the daikon for a minute.... 青首大根 aokubidaikon lets break this word down ao = blue (meaning our green) kubi = neck daikon = well, daikon so this is a blue (or green to us Westerners) necked daikon This kind of daikon is much sweeter and has a higher water content then the all white counterpart. This first started coming onto the market in the 1980's and is now become the standard daikon found in the stores. picture: http://www.norin.co.jp/catalog/radish/1326-ij.htm

and then Korea has its own rules! http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?act=ST...6&hl=chopsticks

This is very true in Japan too, probably the biggest no-no next to passing something from your chopsticks to somebody eles's chopsticks. This also goes back to a funeral rite of picking bones (with chopsticks) out of the cremated remains and passing them among the relatives.

Chad I post every meal we eat because I don't want others to feel intimidated by some of the incredible meals here. I also have 3 kids ages 7, 5 and 2. I would love to see some "regular" meals posted as well, we all have our bad days!

my favorite white cake (and actually the only cake I make anymore) is the white cake from The Best Recipe (Cook's Illustrated).

another one of my favorite dishes is mapodofu(and its many other spellings), though of Chinese origin it has found a new home in Japan. My kids request this almost weekly, I made it last night by tossing in some steamed baby choy.

Monday dinner: mapo-dofu with baby bok choy and Japanese rice smashed cucumber pickles with ginger and sesame tomato slices with wasabi-joyu

oh I did one of those sugar-salt mistakes. I was a newlywed and had gotten some gorgeous fresh trout and decided to make yaki-zakana, whole grilled fish sprinkled with a good dose of salt. Well I wasn't paying attention and grabbed the bag of sugar instead ...... ....it wasn't that bad if you didn't eat the skin My husband still talks about that!

You will have no problem eating left handed with chopsticks in Japan either, both my (Japanese) husband and daughter do it! There is still a lot trying to switch kids to right hands in Japan (and not just in the rural areas!), it is a lot harder for lefties to write the characters with the proper stroke order and style, but no taboos on food.

I have started a Zuni Cafe Cookbook thread, lets post about that book over there! http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?act=ST&f=1&t=26323

living in Japan were a major earthquake is a daily fear (we had a a pretty strong jolt last night) we are pretty prepared. My house is filled with canned foods and bottled water and since we are regular campers we have a tent, sleeping bags, camping stoves, lanterns, etc. We also have a lot of candles and the flashlight and radio never move from their designated places. Some of the worries people are having are not even considerations in Japan, most baths in Japan are always full of water (people tend to use the same bath water fror a couple of days, the tubs have heating elements that reheat it) and Japan is still a cash country, most supermarkets, drugstores, etc only take cash, so there is no problem not having cash on hand. Of course I drive for days with my empty light on my car trying to strech it to the next pay period, at close to $50 a shot to fill it up I try not to fill it too often.

word for 8/19: かぶ kabu turnip The most common turnip in Japan is what is referred to as the Tokyo turnip, it is quite small only about 2 inches in diameter. There is also the Kyoto turnip (shougoin kabu) that is rather large and is used for the famous senmaizuke pickles, this translates literally as thousand sheet pickles and that is exactly what they look like. Turnips are used most commonly in simmered dishes, stirfries and pickles and te another Kyoto speciality kaburamushi in which the turnips are grated, mixed with egg whites and steamed and used as a topping for other dishes. The greens are used in simmered dishes, stirfries and pickles. Tokyo kabu: http://www.maruka-ishikawa.co.jp/images/ve...ure/kabu.h1.jpg senmaizuke: http://bird.zero.ad.jp/iseya/senmaizuke.htm

I have been looking around and asking around about making your own nori, it seems to be one of those things akin to candle making in the US. Basically it is only down in those touristy historical village type areas where you pay someone to teach you and you walk away with one sheet. From what I can gather it was rarely made at home, either it was made by the local "nori maker" or maybe made in groups. I am sure like most handmade products the handmade nori probably tastes better but I can't find anyone who has tasted it.........

there's that panko in the tuna again!

The ultimate yakitori http://www.imaiya.co.jp/english/menu/dainty.html chicken brain sashimi............. while you are at the site check out the rest of the menu as well, I've got to get to this place

The famed Tsuji Academy in Japan is offering correspondence classes, starting in October and lasting for one year. Every month you will recieve 2 videos and one text and need to send back reports, there is an optional 5 day/ 30 hour hands on class. All for \12,000 (about $100) a month, you will not receive "chef" qualifications but it is geared specifically to working women and housewives. In Japanese only http://www.tsuji.ac.jp/tsushin/pc/index.htm